Club news

A fresh start

Graham Morris 5 September 2026
A colourful cartoon of a chess club. The four children around the table are grinning over a board with a clock beside it, one of them holding a book of chess tips, while a grey-haired man behind them holds up a large board and another child pins a notice to the wall. The banners across the top read “Chess club” and “a fresh start!”, and the noticeboard behind carries “welcome!” and “tournament coming soon!” beside a trophy. The sign on the left reads “join us!”.

Great to see 19 juniors at our first session of the autumn season — some new faces along with the usual suspects, and some returning after a brief absence.

A very good turn out, and a very good morning.

A table with two games running side by side, five juniors thinking over their boards, an adult helper watching from the far side, and two more games set up on the bench behind.
Two games on the go, and a helper keeping an eye on both.
Two juniors facing each other across a board at a long table, with a second game and an adult helper behind them and another junior watching from the next chair.
Head to head, with the next game already under way behind.
A busy club room with four games running on two tables, juniors leaning over the boards, and an adult helper studying a position at the back.
Four boards, and not much conversation.
A wide view of the club room with games running along two long tables, juniors and adult helpers playing, watching and teaching.
The room on a busy Saturday morning.

Thanks to our guest tutors

Honoured guest appearances from Eric Sachs and Russell Peg, and from our very own regular John Heath, helped with the tuition duties. My sincere thanks to all of them for allowing me to concentrate on the beginners.

An adult helper and a junior playing a game one to one, with an open notebook beside the board.
One to one, which is where most of the teaching happens.
An adult helper thinking over a board with a junior opposite, more juniors watching from the next chairs, and another helper reading a chess book behind them.
A guest tutor taking on all comers.

Ladders and knockouts start next week

Apart from the individual teaching, many friendly and fun games were played. Next week sees the start of the new Ladder and Knockout competitions.

I will group active members into either Rooks (advanced and intermediate level) or Knights (beginners), based on what we the tutors determine their chess playing abilities are. Nothing is set in stone — we reserve the right to swap members from group to group as we monitor performance.

The new course has started

A new course started today, “Improving your chess skills”, which over a period of several weeks will help to elevate the chess abilities of all our students.

Today’s lesson was for beginners only, covering basic principles. The starter sheet for this is here on the website, and it has links to YouTube videos written and orchestrated by NM Nelson Lopez. They explain the three opening topics in great detail — please watch these and learn from them.

Thank you for the registration forms

I’d like to thank all the parents for filling in the new registration forms regarding child data protection. Everyone who came on Saturday completed one.

If you missed it, there are paper copies at the club, or you can download and print one at home before you come.

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